Terms of Reference

Private Sector Engagement and Alliance Advisor - Partnerships and Alliance Building Expert

Background of the organization

ACDI/VOCA, based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit international development organization that provides technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development and food security to promote economic growth and ensure a vibrant civil society. For more information about ACDI/VOCA, please visit www.acdivoca.org.

Program background

ACDI/VOCA is implementing the Sustainable Agribusiness Activity of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The purpose of the Activity is to strengthen agricultural market systems to make them more competitive, inclusive and resilient and to sustainably reduce poverty in Honduras. 

Sustainable Agribusiness applies a market systems development approach to address the root causes behind the vicious circles that marginalize people and businesses and identifies leverage points that lead to virtuous new ways of doing business and better economic opportunities. This will result in a sustainable increase in income, through more business, more sales and more jobs for Hondurans, while contributing to building broad-based, long-term economic growth.

Purpose

The PES is responsible for the formation and strengthening of strategic alliances with private sector companies involved in agribusiness activities (buyers, agro-industrial processors, exporters, service providers, such as inputs, technology, technical assistance, financial services, etc.) that allow the Sustainable Agribusiness Activity to meet the  its goals, articulating with them relationships that promote social inclusion and access to markets and services.

Place of work

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with frequent travel (+50%) throughout most of the territory of the Republic of Honduras.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and managerial oversight over the Private Sector Engagement (PSE) & Alliance activities of the project.
• Collaborate with multiple partners, Honduran government officials, private sector actors, financial institutions, project team and/or donor agencies.
• Supervisor of primary and secondary research related to PSEs.
• Communicate and report program results to the Sustainable Agribusiness team, donor representatives, partners and other relevant allies to ensure informed decision making based on information and experience.
• Coordinate with GESU communications, policy, MEL and learning areas to ensure that economic development / PSE activities effectively contribute to meeting overall project objectives.
• Identify opportunities to promote the involvement or participation of private actors within the prioritized VCs to encourage investment, increase employment, income and sustainability of the VCs and thus generate systemic and long-term results.
• Design and/or adapt and implement mechanisms or vehicles to facilitate the participation of private stakeholders within the prioritized VCs, ensuring that these mechanisms are effective, transparent and strengthen trust between the parties.
• Ensure that the design and implementation of the vehicles used to facilitate the participation of private actors in the prioritized VCs incorporate effective actions for the inclusion of women, youth, returned migrants and other sectors marginalized by poverty.
• Support the process of redefining the project's leverage points and implementation strategies, based on the gender and social inclusion analysis, so that all project interventions are geared toward reducing the barriers that marginalized sectors encounter in the coffee, horticulture and other relevant VCs.
• Systematize the process of identifying potential public and private stakeholders with whom the project can implement strategic alliances, maintaining a database that is updated periodically.
• Coordinate, guide and articulate the support of the members of the internal IDIQ mechanism towards the activities necessary to contribute to the project's goals, especially with regard to social inclusion tasks, information systems, solutions for the migration issue, etc.
• Support the gestation and implementation of the coordination and integration processes of Sustainable Agribusiness activities with other USAID and GOH projects, concerning the areas of work under his/her responsibility.
• In coordination with the CLA/MEL area, design and implement periodic knowledge exchange, collaboration and learning activities with public and private stakeholders, motivating them to jointly create strategic alliances for the sustainable development of the prioritized VCs and the strengthening of market systems.
• Support the identification and eventual implementation of strategic and social inclusion partnerships to be implemented through the project's Grant Fund, providing him/her with relevant information on the objectives, design, results and potential impacts of the proposed actions.
• Coordinate all personnel, financial, logistical and other requirements for the implementation of the contractual activities under his charge. 
• In coordination with the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP), provide the CLA/MEL director with all the information related to the results of the areas under his/her responsibility, for the purposes of monitoring, control and follow-up of results and impacts; as well as ensure that the results obtained are duly analyzed and incorporated into the project's information and reporting systems.
• Carry out all tasks specifically assigned to him/her by the Deputy Chief of Party Manager and/or the Chief of Party (COP).

Work Areas

1. Promotion of strategic alliances or social inclusion mechanisms that incorporate agricultural producers, especially small producers, into the value chains prioritized by Sustainable Agribusiness.
2. Improved access to financing for small producers.
3. Improving small producers' access to information services and mechanisms to strengthen their skills and knowledge.
4. Incorporation of young people into support, education and credit systems, supporting the improvement of job profiles to attract them to rural activity, either through agricultural or non-agricultural jobs.
5. Establishment of "win-win" partnerships between farmers, intermediaries, small, medium and large buyers and with all service providers, both public and private, to improve the performance of the agricultural market system.
6. Use of incentive systems to change the behavior of rural households, MSMEs, larger businesses and public actors to create and establish long-term, high-impact systemic changes.
7. Promotion of tools such as co-creation, payment by results agreements and the implementation of USAID policies on PSE.
8. Use of Preliminary Evaluation tools for investment identification.
9. Implementation of co-investment mechanisms, performance grants, multi-stakeholder partnerships and in-kind grants, which will be used to implement market-driven partnerships and activities.

Vocational Training 

Master's degree in business administration, agricultural economics, agronomy, industrial engineering, management, development studies or related areas or a bachelor's degree in relevant areas, with eight years in addition to the minimum established below.

Experience

At least 12 years of national/regional/international experience in economic development, agribusiness development, private sector partnership building, public-private partnerships and market systems development in Latin America. 

Requirements

• Previous experience in USAID-funded projects is highly preferred.
• Extensive knowledge of the political, social, economic and cultural context of Honduras is required.
• Understanding of debt and equity financing of agricultural SMEs, community/equity investment fund players and value chain finance is desirable.
• Successful implementation of programs aimed at increasing investment and financing for the agricultural sector is desirable.
• Successes in establishing partnerships that significantly increase counterpart contributions from the private sector and government institutions.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in both English and Spanish (equivalent to R4/S4). 

Skills

• Demonstrable ability to work collaboratively with multiple partners, including government officials, private sector actors, financial institutions, task forces and donor agencies.
• A high degree of ability to communicate both verbally and in writing is required.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in both English and Spanish (equivalent to R4/S4). 

How to apply

We are pleased that you are interested in joining our team, we are an international NGO with equal opportunities. 

Qualified and interested persons should send their resumes no later than May 19, 2024 at 5:00 pm to the address, [email protected] detailing in the subject of the mail "Asesor de Alianzas y Participación con el Sector Privado - Experto en Creación de Alianzas y Asociaciones - Private Sector Engagement and Alliance Advisor - Partnerships and Alliance Building Expert". 

Only candidates who meet the requirements and are pre-selected will be called for interviews. Individuals will be pre-selected as applications are received.